Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a finger operated switching apparatus and more particularly to such apparatus which is used by an operator to enter data into a computer, word processor, typewriter or the like.
A conventional typewriter keyboard includes several horizontal rows of keys oriented transversely to an operator. The conventional arrangement of letters of such a keyboard is sometimes referred to as the QWERTY format after the first six letters on the top row of letter keys. The QWERTY format was developed in the late 1800's and has remained the standard keyboard format to date for typewriters as well as for computers, word processors, and other data entry terminals.
The QWERTY format keyboard suffers from several disadvantages. Hand movement up and down the keyboard is required to position the fingers for striking keys at the upper and lower portions of the board. Even when it is not necessary to move the entire hand, substantial finger movement is required to move the finger between keys on adjacent rows or between adjacent keys on the same row. Such hand and finger movement decreases the rate at which an operator can enter data via the keyboard.
Inventors have secured many patents to facilitate data entry on mechanical typewriters, linotype molded type setting machines, and in later decades, on electric typewriters, word processors and computer keyboards. Many are designed to overcome difficulty of data entry on the standard QWERTY design which is expanded to six horizontal banks of 101 vertically activated keys on the computer style keyboard. The recent incorporation of optical fibers into keyboard circuitry offers alternatives for improvement in design, economy, and keyboard micro controller scanning efficiency. Klein U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,460 describes a convex molded cap for each keytop, claiming an improved tactile sense and engagement of the finger. Data input devices using a reduced number of keys by cording with two or more fingers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,971,465, to Hashimoto 4,836,700, to Jensen and 5,017,030 to Crews which incorporates an adjustable press down switch in the fixed palm rest for Shift and Lock functions. Alternative keyboard arrays to facilitate the operator's hand position are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,001,307, to Blaser 4,560,845 to Takamura and 5,160,919. to Mohler 4,849,732 to Dolenc describes a one-hand (right or left) four-finger letter entry keying device in which the thumb operates eight control and command keys. The other fingers operate laterally on dual columns of four, four, three and two ergonomically angled letter key arrays. Chiba U.S. Pat. No.5,186,555 compresses a two-hand keyboard into an array of four rows and seven columns of actuators accessed from the sides. Actuators are slidable four ways diagonally in a horizontal plane. Thirteen letter characters may be entered by fingers three, four and five of each hand for maximum conservancy of movement. Morgan U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,279 prescribes ordering the standard typewriter key array in alphabetic sequence except that vowels A E I O U are centered on the middle or lower bank of keys with punctuation characters on either side to facilitate data entry. Diernisse U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,268 groups vowels in the left hand base position. McDowell U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,054 applied a similar concept for a one hand key pad of a word-by-word dictionary or language translator except that vowels E I O U are repeated on the flanks of a five-bank letter array. A scanning optical keyboard is described by Souloumiac et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,695, including a variety of arrays of press down keys which activate a shutter device for selective interruption of the light path between the ends of optical fibers. Optical switches for controlling light emissions between the ends of optical fibers are also described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,280, to Bagby 4,607,160, to Sakakino 4,886,335, to Yanagawa and 4,984,530 to Kitchen. A wide view radiant energy receiver is described by Sorensen U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,381. The inventor's prior patents: Allen U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,761,522 and 4,769,516 describe an ergonomic arrangement of three-way, three-spring finger switches operating radially palmward, outward and downward with right and left hand letter manuals, a right hand number manual, and a left hand computer function manual. This device manufactured in prototype has proven commercially infeasible with 24 actuators and 260 components.